It is conventionally known that the ceramics prepared by firing an essential component of zinc oxide added with one or more elements as accessary components in the elemental or compound form have a large voltage non-linear coefficient with less leakage current and is suitable to protect against overvoltage in electronic devices such as a semiconductor device which has a less overcurrent capacity so that they may be used for various purposes instead of the varister of SiC and the like.
It is particularly known that the ceramics prepared by firing zinc oxide added with preseodymium, cobalt, potassium and chromium as accessary components in the form of elements or compounds has a superior voltage non-linearity in the region of larger currents with an advantageous property in protection against the overvoltage. However, conventional ceramics have a relatively larger leakage current and are inconvenient for use at high working voltages with poor protection ability against the overvoltage.